


Take Me Higher

by cheekycal



Series: Song Fics [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Boys In Love, Established Relationship, How Do I Tag, Kinda, Kitten Michael, M/M, Michael Needs a Hug, Protective Luke, Road Trips, Sad Michael, Songfic, i don't think cal and ash are even mentioned whoops, they argue for a little bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 11:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6802690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheekycal/pseuds/cheekycal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Michael just needs a little bit of love to remind him he's okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Me Higher

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on Tear In My Heart by twenty one pilots. Also I don't know if there's actually any Taco Bells in Australia as I don't actually live there. Forgive me Father, for I am American.

“Michael, you didn’t even get me the right type.”

“Luke, it’s fine.”

“No it’s not. You know I don’t like this kind.”

“Luke, just take it, please.”

“No, Michael. I want a new one.”

Michael sighs.

“Luke just eat the goddamn burrito.”

Luke scowls.

“You got me one with  _ onions  _ on it. You know I hate onions,” he says, wrapping the burrito back in the paper.

“I know that, but it’s Taco Bell. You know they can never get the fucking order right.” Michael responds bitterly, keeping an eye on the road.

“But  _ Michael,”  _ Luke groans. “Can’t you pretty please just turn the car around? I just want a burrito.” He sounds so cute and small that Michael has to bite his lip to keep from smiling and breaking his stern demeanor.

“ _ No,  _ Luke. We’re just about an hour and a half away from home and you can eat something there. If you weren’t the World’s Slowest Burrito Opener maybe I would’ve turned around. We’re almost to the freeway now.” Michael says matter-of-factly.

“But-”

“No.”

“Michael, pl-”

“Luke, just shut up! Please,” Michael nearly yells, gripping the steering wheel a little bit harder. He doesn’t mean to yell, but once he does, it kind of feels relieving. However, Luke flinches and drops the burrito on the ground.  

“Why are you yelling?” He asks, sounding small. Michael sighs.

“It’s been a long day, Luke. I just want to go home already,” he says, much softer now. Michael really did have fun with Luke on their little trip. After spending so much time away from home, it was nice to just go out and explore a little bit. But he can only spend so much time in a day fully awake and functioning and right now it seems like he’s running on empty.

“Okay, well you don’t have to yell at me,” Luke says, very softly. “And you could’ve been a little bit nicer to me earlier too,” he adds after a moment of deafening silence. Michael slumps and  wishes he would’ve turned the radio back on after ordering food.

“You want to talk to me about  _ nice  _ Luke? You’re one to talk,” Michael spits anyways. He feels so upset. He feels like there’s no gravity holding him down and he’s just spinning with the Earth as fast as it’ll move. He hates fighting with Luke, but sometimes he just can’t help it.

“I didn’t do anything to you, Michael! I’ve been nothing but nice to you all day,” Luke is quick to defend himself, clenching his fists with anger. Albeit he was angry, he could do nothing to hide the tears in his eyes. “Please don’t ruin this day. It’s almost over.”

“You started this! If you would've just shut up and eaten the burrito then we could’ve fu-”

“This has nothing to do with a fucking burrito, Michael, it has to do with you,” Luke says, suddenly much quieter than before. He turns to face the window, his legs awkwardly pressed up against the door. Michael feels his heart twitch a little bit. He didn’t mean to hurt Luke.

“Luke-”

“You barely even touched me,” Luke says suddenly. Michael blinks.

“What?”

“I don’t mean touching like... _ that.  _ I just mean like, holding my hand, or kisses, or even just- just being  _ close  _ to me. It felt like you didn’t even want to be there,” Luke’s voice breaks, along with Michael’s heart. “Ever since the tour’s been over you seem so far away.”

Michael chokes on air. Or maybe a sob. He doesn’t know. Michael can’t tell what’s happening to him. Luke is right -- when tour ended, Michael had instantly wanted to be alone. It was like the second the lights went out at their last show, he just started moving on autopilot. He would talk to Luke and the other boys (mostly Luke), but other than that he just wanted to go home. He wanted to go home and hug his mum and dad and sleep as late as he wanted without someone yelling in his ear to get up and get ready. This whole ‘Muke Adventure’ thing was kind of a spur of the moment idea. Michael had agreed, of course, because it’s  _ Luke,  _ how could he not? And he did have fun, really, he did, but he just felt so...

Empty.

“I’m sorry,” Michael says after almost a minute. Luke is staring at him.

“Why are you crying?” The blonde asks, now in full concern-mode. Even though he’s still mad, he has to make sure that Michael is okay, first. Michael takes a hand off the wheel to wipe his face and yeah, he’s definitely crying. He laughs hysterically and the car swerves a little.

“Mikey, you need to pull over,” Luke says, reaching over to grip the door handle in a weak attempt to feel more stable. Michael just shakes his head furiously, making the car jerk again. A car honks to the left of them and Luke is properly scared now.

“We’re on a freeway,” Michael says vacantly, still staring straight ahead.

“There’s a shoulder on the right, you can pull over, please,” Luke’s voice is borderline desperate now, and he runs a hand through his own hair to try and calm himself. Michael hesitantly obliges, moving over to the right shoulder (quite unsafely, Luke would probably add).

Michael’s world is spinning again. He feels sick and dizzy and he doesn’t know how to stop it. “I’m sorry,” he keeps repeating. “I’m sorry,”

“Michael, please stop,” Luke tries, grabbing Michael’s hands across the center console and intertwining their fingers. “It was my fault,” he says, even though it really wasn’t. He just wants Micahel to stop crying.

“No, I didn’t mean to yell,” Michael says slowly, letting the tears run hot down his face. “I just don’t know what’s wrong with me. You love me so much and I just don’t understand it. You don’t need me, you could have someone so much better,” he cries, his chin tucked into his chest, avoiding all eye contact.

“Don’t say that, Michael,” Luke says, voice on the verge of sounding angry. He’s not sure where this is coming from. He knows Michael has had times like this in the past; Luke would lie awake with Michael for hours in the dark of night, listening to him cry and vent. That was back in Year 9, before they had any idea of what was to come. So Luke knew, he did. Michael just hadn’t had a bad day in what seems like forever. Michael lets out a humourless laugh.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you. I just feel so overwhelmed, I mean, I dropped out of school, I’m the worst in the band, I can never do anything right and I- I treat you so poorly, Luke. You could have someone so much better than me, I’m so sorry, for everything,” Michael positively sobs, pulling his hands away and covering his face with his hands. Luke wants to scream.

“Michael,  _ you _ treat me poorly?” Luke asks rhetorically. “Is staying on the phone with me all night and risking video game privileges in Year 5 something someone who treats me poorly does?” He asks. Michael whines. “Or, do they ride their bike all the way to the hospital to see me after I broke my wrist falling off of my own swing set, and no one else would drive him there? Do they spoon feed me nothing but soup and ice cream for days after I got my wisdom teeth removed? Are they nice enough to not post the horrifyingly embarrassing video they took of me on that same day while I was high on anesthesia?”

Michael is silent now, but he doesn’t look at Luke. The younger boy sighs softly. Somehow, he is the only person who gets to see Michael like this -- so vulnerable and broken. He’s usually so guarded and outgoing. He doesn’t even know where to begin to make him feel better. He grabs Michael’s hands and pulls them away from his face.

“You’re not the worst in the band. If anything, you’re the best, and you know everybody messes up sometimes. It’s just life.”

“I’m sorry,” Michael says softly, his voice cracking. “About your burrito,” he adds a second later. Luke almost laughs.

“Don’t worry, please. I’m sorry too. Listen, it was just an argument, okay?” Luke replies, rubbing his thumb over Michael’s palm. “I don’t care about the burrito that much. I care about you,”

“And you love me, right?” Michael asks, looking at Luke with shining eyes.

“More than anything in the whole world,” Luke confirms. “I do, I love you.”

“To the moon and back?”

“And over and over again,” Luke smiles warmly, leaning forward to wrap his arms around Michael’s neck. Even though it’s slightly uncomfortable, he gets over it, because it’s  _ Michael  _ and he would do anything just to be close to him. Michael buries his face into Luke’s neck and sniffs.

“You deserve the whole world. You deserve all the stars and all the galaxies. The whole solar system,” Michael says. Luke smiles.

“Well I’m sure glad I found you, then.”

And as they drove back after switching places, no one has to know how many times Luke cursed his government for not using his taxes to fix the holes in the road that he so carefully avoided so that Michael slept soundly all the way home.

**Author's Note:**

> SORRY FOR THE HORRIBLE ENDING K LOVE U BYE


End file.
